Apple's $5 Trillion Moment: Its Strongest Earnings, Its Weakest AI - 36Kr

Apple posted a record-looking fiscal Q3, with revenue, profit, and gross margin all hitting strong levels; iPhone and Mac growth also improved, and China showed signs of recovery.

The company briefly approached a $5 trillion market cap, but shares fell after a cautious outlook for the next quarter as investors rotated toward hotter AI names.

Apple’s AI transition is still moving slowly, and the long-delayed Siri upgrade is only now rolling out in stages.

Apple is partnering with Google in the U.S. and with Alibaba and Baidu in China to strengthen its AI stack, but it still needs to prove it can compete at scale.

The earnings highlight Apple’s powerful hardware franchise, while AI capability, supply-chain costs, and post-supercycle replacement demand remain the key questions for the next leg of growth.